The demand for fine-grained explosives for the production of, for example, nitramine propellant and PBX has increased in recent years. In order to be able to meet this demand, new avenues of approach have been tested for producing fine-grained fractions of old, tried and proven crystalline high explosives such as hexogen or trimethylene trinitramine (RDX), octogen or cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (HMX) and pentyl or pentaerytrol trinitrate (PETN) and others. In this disclosure, the expression fine-grained crystalline substances is taken to mean such as those having a mean particle diameter (MPD) of less than 20 .mu.m.
The currently applied processes for producing fine-grained high explosives are either doubtful from the standpoint of safety or are impossible from considerations of economy. Numbered among the first group is the currently most widely used method which is based on grinding the high explosive in a mill in the presence of large amounts of liquid, a method which, with the passage of time, has suffered--despite the addition of liquid--from a large number of incidents and consequently can hardly be described as entirely without risk. A further component of this problem structure is that it is difficult to produce sufficient amounts of fine-grained high explosives simply by separating the most finely-grained fractions from each batch of crystalline high explosive. Moreover, the mixing stage itself is an integral part of the production of composite explosives, a stage which, in particular if it must be carried out in the dry state, involves an additional element of risk.